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Saturday, January 18, 2014

21 Day Sugar Detox - Day 12 - Thinking About the Future

Day 12 done! I have almost 2 weeks under my belt of healthy eating, and today (Saturday) we were supposed to do our weigh-in. We were in a rush to get to Sam's early though and totally forgot, so tomorrow will have to do. I hope I'm still beating P, mwahahaha! But if I'm not I'm still proud of me for making a serious move towards a healthier lifestyle (even though making pbjs for meals WOULD save a lot of time and taste delicious). Gotta invest in yourself if you want better things down the road.

According to the 21DSD book, I should be over any cravings for sweets/bread/etc. at this point. I'm going to be honest and say that's just not the case, at least for me. I want those things, I just want to be healthy more.
Also, I survived the cake and pie! And my leftovers were actually good. If you want to reheat salmon in the microwave, start with 1 minute or less and just heat in 30 second increments, I reheated mine in 1 minute flat and it was perfect. You don't want to overcook it. Since I totally scarfed down all the carrots I made the night before, I paired my piece of salmon with a mixed greens salad with a little cheese (it's on the yes list, I checked!) and some kalamata olives. It was good so I'm pretty happy about that. For breakfast I had some Greek yogurt with slices of a green-tipped banana. I think I'm going to make Vanilla Bean N'oatmeal tonight for breakfasts for the next few days, so I'm excited about that because vanilla bean sounds tasty.

More importantly, I've been thinking about the future. As in - what happens on Day 22? I'm happier with myself eating healthy and I don't want to just undo all my hard work by going hogwild on Day 22 and eating whatever I want. I have considered reintroducing things slowly, especially because that will help me figure out what causes my heartburn and bloatedness. I've been looking at both the Paleo way of eating and the Eating Clean way of eating. Neither are "diets" - the focus is on improving overall health, NOT getting yourself to a size zero. I've read pros and cons. I've come to the conclusion that I want to do sort of a hybrid of the two in my everyday life.

I think some people misunderstand what "Paleo" means though, and I'm no expert. But what some people seem to think is that Paleo followers just eat a lot of meat and don't eat carbs at all and it's all hunky-dory. To me it's actually about eating wholesome, nutrient dense foods, while trying to avoid processed foods and food allergens such as gluten and soy. Most Paleo recipes I've seen do not use really fatty or rich meat for the majority of recipes. You often use leaner cuts. And you eat a lot of veggies. It's not just some giant bacon-fest (although bacon is allowed but you know, be reasonable). You also don't eat substitute food like on the Atkins diet. For example, there is no "Paleo Peanut Butter Cups" product on store shelves. There are some Paleo cookbooks and recipes out there that do create Paleo desserts to copy regular desserts. Paleo or regular, dessert is dessert and it's going to be bad for you. So use some common sense - moderation!

My only issue with super Paleo-ing is that I want to eat some carbs such as fruit and sweet potatoes more. This isn't because I'm addicted to carbs, it's because it will help my food budget while giving me variety and satisfying my occasional desire for sweet things. Again, the key is moderation. I also don't personally have big issues with dairy, especially butter, yogurt, and goat-type cheeses, so I'd like to include those in my food rotation. I don't have an issue with grains such as rice or quinoa either. All of these things I want to integrate into my current 21DSD way of eating, but I want to integrate them as not an every day thing, not even an every week thing per se. I just know that I'd like to have them now and then.

More importantly is the fact that I don't want to go back to bread with everything, crackers, pastas, etc. Or any "light," "fat free," or "sugar free" type foods. I also don't think I'll be buying processed convenience foods anymore, such as Lean Cuisines or deliciously unhealthy nut butters like JIF (sorry my love, but we're breaking up). Because when my diet was rich in these I could eat and eat and eat and eat and never be satisfied. Now I have a rationally portioned meal e.g. a salmon fillet with a little sauce on top and a salad, and I'm not already thinking about what I'm going to eat next and when can I eat next. I don't get insanely hungry 1-2 hours after eating. I don't even need coffee or soda for caffeine anymore. And I certainly don't need the packets of Equal I was adding to my coffee or the artificial sweeteners in Diet Coke (sorry my other love, but we're breaking up too).

I was exhausted when I got home from work last night so I decided to make zoodles (zucchini noodles) with a modified version of this spicy peanut sauce I make with almond butter instead of peanut butter. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough coconut aminos to make the sauce the right consistency and I was tired and frustrated so I added some not-allowed soy sauce. BIG MISTAKE. While it was a tasty meal, today I feel bloated, my knees hurt more today than usual (which makes no sense since the weather is decent) and overall I just feel blech-y. I would NEVER have guessed that I am sensitive to soy and wheat (i.e. gluten), especially just the amount that's in a bit of soy sauce, but apparently I am because my body is not happy today, and all the other stuff I ate yesterday I've eaten previously with no problems.

Gotta pour one out for my homie. Sorry soy sauce.

Au revoir soy sauce, bienvenue coconut aminos! After our mega-trip to Sam's I tetris-ed everything into our fridge and freezer and went to Whole Foods to get specialty items like coconut butter, unsweetened coconut flakes, coconut aminos (I got 2 bottles so it lasts longer), some traditional medicinals herbal teas since they were on sale and I'm getting more into tea, a bottle of kombucha to make kombucha gelatin, some more almond butter, a spaghetti squash, and some scallops.

I've never cooked scallops before so I thought that might be a nice change of pace. Since we're not so close to an ocean I hope they're good. I mean Texas has the Gulf Coast right there but we're in North Texas which is like a 6 hour or so drive from the coast. For those not in the know, you can drive for 8 hours in one direction in Texas and still be in Texas. Part of Texas is even in a different time zone than the rest.

Anyway, I didn't make anything really awesome on Day 12 but I did survive mostly unscathed with a new revelation under my belt regarding soy sauce. I think Day 13 will be pretty standard fare too, but I'll try to get some good pics!